Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ron Paul on the Economy

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, released a column on Tuesday that revealed the congressman’s current thoughts on the economy. Paul, who has argued against raising the debt ceiling in recent months, has also made a career out of trying to decrease federal spending and taxes. Paul has also been a major proponent of freedom and liberty. In fact, online support for Paul is so entrenched that his official campaign site doesn’t even appear until the second page of Google’s search results for the term “Ron Paul.”

On Tuesday, Paul wrote that the “U.S. economy is in terrible shape, and that no amount of government spending or Federal Reserve quantitative easing can reduce unemployment, increase real productivity, or address our debt fiasco.” Paul argued that private capital will stimulate the economy and, in turn, create jobs for unemployed Americans. However, Paul is quick to point out that the Obama Administration has failed to encourage private capital. “We cannot create jobs if we demonize profits, punish risk-taking capitalists, and stay hostile to foreign investment,” professed Paul.

In order to increase private capitol, Paul outlined four steps that must be completed. First, Paul argued that the U.S. currency must be “backed by gold or some other commodity respected by the market.” Paul added that “until we prohibit the Treasury and Federal Reserve from essentially creating money and credit from thin air, we cannot restore the U.S. economy.” Paul recently proposed that the Gold in Fort Knox be verified for its authenticity.

Second, Paul pointed out that government regulations are preventing businesses from taking on new employees. “It is time to start shrinking the federal register,” wrote Paul. Paul identified Obamacare as a government regulation that is too costly for U.S. businesses.

Paul, who has been especially critical of the U.S. intervention in Libya, argued that overseas wars are draining the U.S. economy. “We must stop spending trillions of dollars overseas on foreign wars,” wrote Paul. In fact, Paul professed that “our economy would be infinitely better off if those trillions of dollars had never been removed from the private economy or added to our debt.”

Finally, Paul argued that economy would be better off if the U.S. changed its tax system. “We must completely revamp the U.S. tax system and move to a territorial model that does not tax foreign source income,” wrote Paul. The congressman goes as far as to suggest that “we need to abolish the income tax altogether.”

At the end of his column, Paul argued that “less government, respect for private property, and a relatively stable legal environment allowed America to become the wealthiest nation on earth.” If America disregards this lesson, Paul argued that “the predictable result is widespread poverty and misery.”